MELBOURNE’s 9km Metro Tunnel will open in early December, the Victorian state government has confirmed. It will be a soft launch for the $A 15bn ($US 9.88bn) project, with a limited number of trains running for the first two months.
The full service for the east-west cross-city tunnel between Footscray and Caulfield, with five new stations under Melbourne’s Central Business District, will start on February 1, with trains running as frequently as every 4 minutes on the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.
The government says the new tunnel will allow it to deliver an extra 1000 services a week by releasing capacity on the Melbourne City Loop.
When the Metro Tunnel opens in early December, trains will operate only between Westall and West Footscray every 20 minutes between 10.00 and 15.00. At weekends, services through the tunnel will also operate to East Pakenham every 40 minutes and hourly to Sunbury.
The state government says phased opening will enable delivery teams to ensure that all systems are functioning correctly before the full service starts. Construction recently finished on the last two new stations, Town Hall and State Library.
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